(JTA) – A wide variety of kosher foods have disappeared from grocery shelves in Vermont after the state’s strict GMO labelling law went into effect July 1.

At least one supermarket in the city of Burlington explained that it could no longer offer certain kosher products because their manufacturers did not update their packaging to comply with the new law, the Burlington Free Press reported. [Read more…]

RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) – Islamic terrorists have issued directives to “lone wolves” to carry out attacks against the Israeli delegation at the Rio Olympics, The Foreign Desk reported.

In a list published on social media, jihadis are advised to target American, British, French and Israeli athletes with the notion that: “One small knife attack against Americans/Israelis in these places will have bigger media effect than any other attacks anywhere else in sha Allah.” [Read more…]

JERUSALEM (JTA) – An Israeli general was indicted in the rape and sexual assault of two female subordinates four months after his promotion to a prominent post was cancelled over the accusations.

Brig.-Gen. Ofek Buchris, 47, was indicted Thursday by the Military Advocate General for the sexual offenses allegedly committed between 2010 and 2012. In March, not only was his promotion to head the Operations Division nixed when the allegations came to light, he also was suspended from his temporary post with the army’s Command and Staff College. [Read more…]

Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump at the third day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, July 20, 2016. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

CLEVELAND (JTA) – We’ve caught glimpses of him this week. He gave a three-line speech Monday night. The next day, he addressed the crowd via video feed.

But Thursday night is the real thing: Donald Trump, the official U.S. presidential nominee of the Republican Party, will address 50,000 of his faithful from the convention stage in Cleveland. [Read more…]

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Amid increased security in the wake of last year’s deadly stabbing spree, Jerusalem’s 15th annual gay pride parade kicked off Thursday with an estimated 10,000 marchers, double the number that marched a year ago.

Some 2,000 police were on hand to secure the parade route. At least nine people reportedly were detained at the entrance to the march out of fear that they would disrupt the proceedings. [Read more…]

(JTA) – President Horacio Cartes, the first Paraguayan head of state to visit Israel, told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his South American nation also faced a holocaust.

“Paraguay has had a holocaust. We lost practically all our population in a war that was called the Triple Alliance with our neighbour. But I don’t want to be the country to be remembered because we had the holocaust. I want our countries to be much closer because we share principles and values,” Cartes said during a meeting with Netanyahu, referring to the South American war fought from 1864 to 1870 between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. There were some 400,000 casualties in that war. [Read more…]

Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Poland’s chief rabbi, reciting a prayer for the victims of the Jedwabne massacre at the town’s Jewish cemetery, July 10, 2016. Second from left is Jonathan Greenblatt, the Anti-Defamation League’s national director. (Cnaan Liphshiz)

(JTA) – Several Jewish organizations condemned recent statements by Polish officials, which the critics deemed detrimental to historical accuracy on the Holocaust and World War II.

The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia last week took aim at Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz, for telling TVP that Russians were actually behind the mass killing of Jews and Poles that mainstream historians attribute to Ukrainian nationalists and Nazi forces. [Read more…]

Yishai Schlissel is escorted by police after his hearing at the Jerusalem Magistrates Court, Aug. 11, 2015. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

JERUSALEM (JTA) – Yishai Schlissel, who is serving a life sentence for stabbing six marchers at last year’s Jerusalem Pride Parade and killing a 16-year-old, was arrested in prison for a violent plot against this year’s march.

Israel Police announced hours before the scheduled start of the march that Schlissel was arrested in prison Wednesday on charges of conspiracy to commit a crime and for planning an attack on the parade. [Read more…]